On International Women’s Day 2022, marie claire Australia hosted a very special breakfast, with Lisa Wilkinson, Brittany Higgins, Miranda Tapsell, Christine Holgate, Dylan Alcott and Chantelle Otten as guests and speakers.
Whether it be pushing equality in the workplace, tackling rape myths or encouraging women to explore their sexuality and prioritise pleasure, each speaker as fought for women’s rights and paved the way for change.
When Lisa Wilkinson took to the stage, marie claire’s print editor, Nicky Briger, asked the presenter a range of questions, from leaving The Today Show to telling her own story of sexual assault. As we came to learn, Wilkinson’s relationship with activist and author, Brittany Higgins has had a profound impact on her and through telling Brittany’s story, Wilkinson ultimately found the strength to tell her own.
“Telling Brittany’s story last year was an incredible moment — there wasn’t anyone who wasn’t watching it on TV,” Briger said. “What have you learned from Brittany?”
“Ooh”, Lisa said with a deep breath. “Where do I start?”
A long pause filled the room before Lisa spoke, with her voice beginning to crack. “I learned what real courage looked like,” she said.
“When Brittany and I first started talking, we talked about what had happened to me four years before,” Lisa went on to explain.
“I said to her, ‘if you do decide to go ahead with this, it’s not going to be easy. It’s going to be really tough and there is going to be a lot of judgement, but I really don’t believe you will ever regret it'”, she recalled.
“I think Brittany had already decided that she was going to go for it, but it’s not just the courage that it took for Brittany to first tell her story, it’s the courage that I’ve witnessed up close for the last year. She’s never stopped and she’s had every reason to stop. And when you’ve got an entire government trying to shut you up and you refuse to, I don’t know where that courage comes from.”
In 2021, former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins alleged she was raped in Federal Defence Minister Linda Reynolds’ office by a senior male colleague in March 2019. The accused denies the charges, and the matter is now before the courts, with Higgins continuing her activism within this space.
During Brittany’s interview at the marie claire breakfast, she admits that it feels strange to have her private life laid bare for the world to dissect, but is adamant that it isn’t about her, it’s about a broader movement.
“Sometimes you have to separate the personal from the political,” she said. “It’s a strange thing to be known for, but I appreciate that it’s a privilege to be heard.”
Lisa referenced this comment during her time on stage, remarking that the pressure and pain is “a lot to bear.”
“It’s a lot to carry every single day, but what I realised after Brittany’s story went to air, is just how common abuse is for so many women who never told their story.”
“What I keep hearing again and again and again, is that if this young woman can be brave enough to tell her story and take on the government at the same time, then I’m going to tell my story,” Lisa said, after witnessing several women come forward to share their own experiences in the wake of Brittany’s.
Lisa went on to share an incredibly moving story which a woman had shared, about her 96-year old mother who was also inspired by Brittany to share her own story. At the age of 18 she went to the Conservatorium of Music as a promising young musician, but she was raped there, and as a result, never picked up her instrument again and never told her story.
Watching Brittany come forward, the woman said the experience “freed” her mother, and as Brittany listened in the audience, her eyes filled with tears.
“How many women’s talents over the years were quashed because they were destroyed by the abuse they suffered?” Lisa asked, as everyone in attendance took a moment to let it sink in.
Nicky asked Lisa if Brittany had inspired her to come forth with her own assault story in her newly-released autobiography, It Wasn’t Meant to Be Like This.
“I wanted to be incredibly truthful in the book, but I was having incredible difficulty putting the words down,” she explained.
“It was through the power of Brittany that I thought, ‘no, I’ve got to write this now, I don’t have any choice.’ I feel very much at one with so many other women around the country who are now also telling their stories. If you open your arm, another woman will place her arm in yours and you can move forward together.”
If you ever needed a reminder that women are stronger together, this is it. In unity, we find strength.
